Change is brewing with the Miami Dolphins offense. Tony Sparano’s conservative, methodical approach is gone, and a new uptempo style of play will be implemented.

Can Brian Hartline step to the forefront of the Dolphins receiving corp?

There’s a new coaching staff, and with them comes a new, faster pace, west coast style of offense.

The right side of the offense line has been rebuilt, and so has the unit’s approach considering the Dolphins will be using a traditional zone blocking scheme.

But do the Dolphins have the offensive personnel to make the style of offense new coach Joe Philbin utilized in Green Bay work? Does Miami have the bullets and trigger man to transform this popgun offense into a revolver?

Here is a look at the offensive depth chart heading into the OTA program, minicamps and training camp.

QUARTERBACK (4): Ryan Tannehill (first-round pick from Texas A&M), Matt Moore and David Garrard are competing to see who is the regular season starter. Pat Devlin is battling for a backup or practice squad role.

The Number: The Dolphins will likely keep three on the 53-man roster, and carry one on the practice squad.

Breakdown: Tannehill, Moore and Garrard will compete for the starting spot, and whoever fits the west coast system the best, learning it quickly, will likely start. Tannehill already knows the offense from his time playing under new offensive coordinator Mike Sherman at Texas A&M, but he doesn’t have an understanding of pace of the NFL game yet. Garrard has had a productive nine seasons in the NFL, where he’s established himself as an upper echelon starter before injuries forced him to miss last season. Moore produced a 87.1 QB rating and led the Dolphins to a 6-6 record last season when he replaced Chad Henne.

The number: The Dolphins have typically kept four or five tailbacks on the 53-man roster, and carry at least two on the practice squad.

Breakdown: Bush, who rushed for 1,086 yards last season, is entering the final year of his deal, and should blossom in a west coast offense. The coaches plan to utilize his pass catching skills by lining him up as a receiver. The Dolphins couldn’t pass up on drafting Miller, who has a similar skill set to Bush. He’ll need to learn how to pass block before receiving a large role. That means he’ll likely play behind Thomas, who possesses a powerful rushing style. As does Messam, a former CFL standout, whose 250-pound frame is built like a fullback. Slaton, who signed a one-year deal this offseason, must produce to extend his NFL career. Gray is realistically competing for a practice squad shop until he blows the coaches away.

The number: The Dolphins typically carry three or four on the 53-man roster, but the Packers, Philbin’s old team, carried five tight ends last season. The more tight ends the Dolphins carry means the less receivers or tailbacks make the 53-man roster.

Breakdown: Fasano is one of the more versatile NFL tight ends because of his ability to do everything. Last season he caught 32 passes for 451 yards and scoring five touchdowns. He’ll likely remain the starter, but he is entering the final year of his contract. That means an investment will be made in Egnew, who is supposed to be the seam threat this offense has been missing since David Martin’s departure. Egnew will eat into Fasano’s snap count, but the Dolphins plan to use plenty of two tight end packages. Many of them will feature Clay, the H-back, which is a blend of the tight end and fullback position. Yeatman, Mastrud and Brown need to standout in camp to extend their stay. Yeatman and Brown are eligible for the practice squad.

The number: Last year the Dolphins kept six receivers on the 53-man roster, which was the most Miami’s kept on the active roster since 2007. At least one young receiver always gets stashed on the practice squad.

Breakdown: Pro Bowl receiver Brandon Marshall is gone, which means the Dolphins are searching for a playmaker to carry the passing game. The Dolphins hope to find versatile receivers who can do everything, and run every route, which would diversify the offense. Bess should remain the slot receiver, and Hartline, who has flashed ability from time to time, will likely separate himself from the pack because of his understanding of offenses. The 11 other receivers are competing for three or four spots on the 53-man roster. The Dolphins hope a youngster steps up and establishes himself as a playmaker worthy of a starting role. Gates has elite speed. Wallace has a huge frame. Fuller already knows the offense because it is what he ran at Texas A&M. But it is consistency that will allow a receiver to rise to the top of the depth chart.

The number: The Dolphins typically keep nine offensive linemen on the 53-man roster, and two on the practice squad.

Breakdown: The Dolphins are rebuilding the right side of the offensive line, which means the search has begun for the new starting right tackle and right guard. Martin will compete with Murtha for the tackle spot. Jerry, Hicks, Garner, Cook, Feinga and the undrafted rookies will be vying for the right guard spot. The coaches are looking for more athletic offensive linemen, which means plenty member in this unit need to shed about 20 pounds, which should help them become better pullers and second-level blockers.

So, outside of the usual obsession about when will Tannehill become a starters, and who are the playmaking receivers, what concerns you about the Dolphins offense the most?

Im glad the TE will be a larger part of the offense….but FIVE TEs is too much. Didnt GB have to scrape Sancom Gado off the street a year or two ago because their HB got hurt and didnt have anyone else on the roster.

Keep your bag on, we aren’t interested in knowing who can start for another team, we only care how they fit our scheme. How many ex-Pats start for other teams? Asante Samuel was a stud in NE, now he’s a Falcon by way of a 7th round pick.

Yeah fist pump, your just talking crazy now. You know Hartline although looking like a woodland creature can catch the deep b…no wait, he can’t really with any consistency. Reminds me of a Camarillo mostly. And then, we have…BESS! Who in the time it has taken me to type this reply has fallen down 5 times getting out of bed and into the hallway.

O-Line. Not even close. I’m going to end up as road-kill courtesy of a 320 pound bulldozing DT if the protection on the right side of the line doesn’t improve. Do any of you know what it’s like to take a hit from one of those guys? It’s jaw breaking painful. Just thinking about it makes me want to let Tannehill win that starting job!!

There only on position on the line that isn’t solid, and that’s RG. The rest are pretty good. Long is a pro bowler, Inconito is solid, Pouncy is a future pro bowler, RG hummmmm, and Martin is agreat pick who originally had a first round grade.

Hey, what about me, I can throw the ball very effective withing the 2 yrds, I’ll move the offense on the dink and dunk, it will take me 2qrs to get to the 10 yrd and kick the Field Goal..where is my bud Sparano?

With the state of the WR corps being questionable at best, I could see 5 TEs making the team easy. Fasano, Egnew, and Clay are locks, and I think Brown will be kept because he’s the type of athletic talent a team would pounce on if exposed on the practice squad. So Mastrud and Yeatman are probably playing for one spot.

The reports about the questionable WR corps is all BS, no one knows how these guys are going to perform in the WCO. We have lots of young talent at WR, we’ll just have to see how they perform without BM hogging all the catches. WT F,Some schmuuuck from NY writes about the Fins like he knows something and everyone takes it as fact.

He’s got game, but lets not go overboard trying to compare him to Rice. I’ve seen him play a lot at NV (hometown guy), he’s got very good football speed and IT, but let’s just see if he can make the team first.

I expect Matthews to make the team and work his way into a productive role. He has to learn the WCO route tree, but he is tough, strong, quick enough, with great hands. At just over 6′ tall and 217lbs he has the size and strength of a RB with WR skills. I think he makes the 53-man roster.

Me too – LMFAO that Thomas has a “pwerful rushing style”….maybe style, but certainly not effect. I still wish we’d taken Mallett instead of trading up for Thomas. Of course, Mallett would not have been a fit for this style of offense and the prior regime would have had no clue how to train or use him, so it just wasn’t meant to be. Mallett will be a star for some team eventually.

I can just vision all the Olineman from last yr not name Pouncey and Long going through summer hell trying to lose weight. It shouldn’t be too hard to lose in that heat and humidity, but it sure will test them.

I wouldn’t take what GB did as far as numbers at a position to mean much, coaches keep more than normal at one postion than another based on the talent or lack of on the team. The D needed some extra bodies, because the D was weak, so they had one extra player there. QB was set, so no need to have 3, not sure what the case was at TE, maybe they felt like they had some talent that they wanted to get up to speed in case Finley left this yr.

I agree, Steve. I only posted this as a reference guide to the information supplied by the blog author (when discussing what the Packers did). In the end, talent matters. A team will not cut a more talented WR in favor of a marginal 4th or 5th TE and vice versa. I think the Fins will probably carry 4 and another 2 on the PS if anything.

easy answer… pulling guard is the biggest question. Zone blocking does not work w/o elite pulling guards. Receiver could be an issue but think we have enough potential candidates that it may work it’s self out. Just have to wait and see on both. Jake Scott is still available – just say’en.

Since Philbin mentioned the pulling guard before the draft as one of the key needs, I’d expect that they have a plan, and I’d expect that plan to be to have the current roster guys lose some weight. Jerry at 310 would be my guess or Martin.

WR is the biggest concern. Then again, New England’s system doesn’t need a #1 WR either. Also, Philbin drafted some gems in Green Bay at WR, so maybe he found a couple more in Miami. Should be interesting.

QB is the 2nd biggest. Yeah, they drafted Tannehill, but will he be elite, or will we be talking about QB issues in 2-3 years again? Unitl that position is solid, it’s always going to be a concern.

I think Egnew is about as good as it’s going to get right now. He will be the best TE this team has had in a while outside of Fasano. He is easily better than Randy McMichael. But the strategy with Egnew was more about having a big target without consideration to actual position (TE or WR).

We need to consider our scheme and playing to our strengths. i think we are going to see alot of multiple sets. alot two tight ends and hback sets. imagine fasano, clay(or egnew), bush (or miller) on the field in passing situations. the man focus is winning their one on one match ups. with good quarterback play this could be dangerous

For sure right guard!Hard to believe out of six guys that played football for years have difficulty blocking somebody .Heck you can fall down and block them.Why is this so hard?Sprano ranks up there with the worse leader and coach i can remember.Just for the simple fact we have a offensive mind now will be alot better.I not worried about receiver we got plenty young good ones besides roberto wallace who is fools gold.

Three guys i really want to see break out this year that have the talent, but need to tie it all together:
1–John Jerry-get your weight down and work on your footwork
2–Roberto Wallace- Elite size and good speed, just needs to work on routes and ’shake’ moves
3–Koa Misi– Respectable first couple years; not sure how they will use him or what his legal deal is, but i like his mellow attitude, intelligence, and his high motor.

Three guys i really want to see break out this year that have the talent, but need to tie it all together:
1–John Jerry-get your weight down and work on your footwork
2–Roberto Wallace- Elite size and good speed, just needs to work on routes and ’shake’ moves
3–Koa Misi– Respectable first couple years; not sure how they will use him or what his legal deal is, but i like his mellow attitude, intelligence, and his high motor.

Jerry wasnt good but wasnt awful last year, so he or Murtha should be serviceable at RG–wont be a position of strength but should be a significant improvement over Columbo–cant fill all these holes in 1 draft, same with WR, so I’ve said for awhile that this should be viewed as a 2 draft/2 yr process–they’ll upgrade the RG/OL and WR positions in next years draft (hopefully).

Lydon Murtha is 6′7 and 320 don’t know if he is athletic but right size to play RT. don’t know if he can play RG(as well as Martin). but I think we can look within first. if we solidify the oline thatg opens up so much we can do offensively in the passing game.

One of the tall WR’s -(Wallace, Fuller, Moye)- will have to emerge or they’ll find one who will; that’s the trend in the pro’s and now in college too.

Fins need to know if Miller can replace Bush, because if Bush busts out he may become too expensive, and if he’s a bust he’ll need to be replaced. Either way, the Miller question needs an answer.

No qb for 15 years, and now all 3 qb’s got game. The light bulb finally came on upstairs. Matt Moore’s talent is underrated. The dude is experienced enough to know what’s up, but young enough and has never really gotten fair shot. Ideal scenario: Tannenhill’s preseason showing proves he’s the future and Moore’s solid season raises his trade value.

With Miller in the mix maybe he and Thomas can get enough action to keep Bush’s production somewhat down, that way he won’t be too expensive after the season. This is the way it works in NE, lots of guys contribute, but you don’t see too many with huge numbers (Welker, Moss, and Gronk).

Let’s be honest Bess and Hartline are very average receivers made better due to Brandon Marshall getting extra coverage. The Dolphins need Gates to step up due to his speed that will not allow for tight coverage. The Dolphins can use Miller in the slot or Bush and most likely will sitting Bess. The media just does not realize that the lack of speed with Bess hurts Miami. He has excelled mainly because of the attention given to Brandon Marshall. There was a reason that Bess went undrafted. The Dolphins also need to find a right guard to meet their needs. Matt Moore had trouble last season only because Colombo and Carey could not protect him.

Really? Because last I checked Bess has been on this team longer than Marshall and was a very popular name and target while Marshall was kicking footballs in Denver. Bess is on the team because all he does is get open and catch the ball. His game is not based on speed but quickness.

We got some good pieces in place on the offense we need gates and Thomas to make a step forward this year and really comntribute will make transition to tannehill smoother. But on the bright side if they flop we just replace them in 2013 draft

The continual wringing of hands by Fin fans over the WR spot is driving me nuts!

We know that Philbin used TE’s, and a lot, in GB just like NE does. Fasano and Clay are very good pass catchers.

We know Philbin has said himself, so no speculation here, that he will use Bush as a WR. A lot.

Philbin has also said that he will use Lamar Miller as a WR. A lot. To exploit his speed.

We know Hartline and Bess are solid, to say the least. Look at Bess’s numbers before Marshall joined the Fins.

We know that Gates has very good hands and elite speed but he did not get into games last year due to the presence of Marshall and an ultra-conservative HC that does not like to play rookies. Until they know every single route in the playbook – we know Philbin is not afraid to play the young guys. He said so himself.

Ditto for Wallace.

Philbin will make sure these guys a coached up and even if they are not 100% perfect ready, they will play. He knows that playing in games is the only way they will really improve – practice goes only so far.

Don’t be surprise to see Reggie Bush in a 80 something number and become our number one receiver. big strong and fas,t runs good routes great speed hard to bring down in the open field, and miller to take over his running back duties. and would had five years to his self life.

Terence Brown had the faster 40 at 5.04 of any of the centers in the draft and combine. I think there was 1 or 2 Guards that were in the 4s. How is he looking at the mini-camp.
ballen

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About the author

OMAR KELLY was unsuccessful at achieving his childhood dream to become a super hero, so he figured he'd do the next best thing and become a journalist who fights against injustice, and searches for truth. After being bored to death reporting news and covering politics, he switched to sports.
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IZZY GOULD joined the Sun Sentinel in Feb. 2012 as a Senior Sports Reporter on the Miami Dolphins beat. He came to South Florida fresh off covering the University of Alabama football program, including its 2011 national championship team. More